


Sincerity's Deterioration

by xingnini



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - MAMA (Music Video), Drabble Collection, OT12 - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 07:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7610065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xingnini/pseuds/xingnini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when people are burdened with powers? </p><p>It gets worse. Some put others before themselves, using it for good. Others choose not to reveal anything, uninvolved in everything. Then there are others who bring about their own destruction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Healing

 

Zhang Yixing hated hospitals but it was the very reason why he kept going everyday. There were sick children everywhere all around, but what could anyone do? They were not God, they could not heal the sick right away, make the blind see, mobilize the paralyzed, restore the hearing of the deaf…

 

Dr. Zhang was walking down the halls in a turquoise uniform and white coat, stethoscope around his neck, and clipboard in hand.

 

‘Hello, Dr. Zhang!” A fellow nurse waved at him as he passed by. He raised a hand in response and smiled in acknowledgment of her greeting. He was walking throughout the halls, looking around for children who were sleeping. Everyday, he made sure he visited every child while they were unconscious to make sure they all had an equal shot at life; seeing the children heal slowly was the very thing that brightened his day.

 

Room 458 contained a little boy named Kang Yoon Sung, who was already taking his nap. Zhang Yixing visited everyday during this time to heal him little by little, so people won’t notice drastic changes, but enough so the boy is suffering less each day. He always does it while the children are sleeping, so they don’t discover his abilities.

 

Yixing walked over to the boy’s bed and placed a hand on the little forehead. The boy was breathing a little harshly and he was sweating. The fever he had a few days ago had come back; the disease was so persistent. Lay focused his energy into the boy and on healing and after a few moments, the boy began breathing more evenly.

 

After walking out of the room, another kid who was his regular patient, a little girl named Xiao Mei, walked up to him. “Hi, Dr. Lay! Please play with me today!!”

 

He smiled down at her. “Okay, gege will play with you. Are you feeling well today?”

 

“A lot better than yesterday!!” She smiled brightly, taking his hand by his fingers and pulling him towards the children’s room.

 

Children call him Lay because lei in Chinese means tired. He is always working around the children, but he really insisted he was not drained by this work; the children continued to call him by the nickname anyway. He wants to continue healing the children; he wishes he could heal them faster.

 

Many early mornings, Yixing can be seen tending his garden in his backyard, which was filled with beautiful flowers. When they wilt and die, no one knows he doesn’t cut them up and throw them away.


	2. Fire

Park Chanyeol was just coming from a 24-hour open fast food restaurant on a winter night at the time when most of the stores were already closed. It had been a long day at work and Chanyeol just wanted to get home. It was snowing and he just did not want to deal with the weather at this point. 

 

That was until he saw an old man wearing the lightest jacket he had ever seen, with holes blown into it. The old man was reaching into a garbage can, only to pick up a few newspapers. He put it into a worn out, dirty satchel bag and slowly walked on. 

 

Did he have a home? He's staying out in the cold? Chanyeol decided to follow him.

 

The man went from trash can to trash can, searching for newspapers and Chanyeol grew increasingly curious with what the man was going to do with all those newspapers. 

 

Finally, the man reached a place in an alley where a cardboard box was waiting for him on the ground, with a few articles of clothing strewn about and a thin wool blanket lying on the ground. The man crumpled up a few of the newspapers and set it on the ground. He started feeling through his pockets in his jacket and his pants. 

 

“Darnit, did I drop my lighter?”

 

Chanyeol realized the man was looking for heat and warmth: fire to light up the newspapers. But the man couldn’t find the lighter he was looking for; all that hard work of going through all those trash cans for nothing. Chanyeol couldn’t imagine the disappointment going through the man’s head of a day looking forward to a fire in front of him, only to have it not happen.

 

Chanyeol decided to pretend to walk past the alley and set a fire for the man. He started warming up his hands by rubbing them together, a few sparks already igniting. Walking past the man’s delicate haven, Chanyeol shot out his hand discreetly and saw in the corner of his eye, the newspapers burning with an orange glow. The man had a look of shock on his face, but Chanyeol couldn’t see the rest. He kept walking on, not looking back, but he was sure the man was probably thankful that he didn’t have to freeze over tonight. 

 

Chanyeol’s act of kindness set a fire in his heart.


	3. Time

 

Huang Zitao was walking his dog around in the rain, umbrella in hand, plastic bag in the other, and distaste in his spirit for the weather. He was getting annoyed at his dog, who was just refusing to pee or poop, having to scold him every few minutes. Zitao’s patience was certainly running out and he had half the mind to just go home and have his dog locked up in the cage; but that would mean having to clean up the waste in his house. His patience would certainly blow up then.

 

“Aish, just pee already, I’m fine with you not pooping, just pee at least!! Please!!”

 

He heard giggling behind him. He turned around and saw a little girl, who was looking down at his dog. She looked back up at him and smiled, then without a word, proceeded to run ahead of him, with her little legs covered in white stockings and her pink skirt rustling in the wind. Weird… what was the girl doing running around without a raincoat or umbrella?

 

He looked around. No parents either…

 

The day was really dark, and the rain was coming down. Everyone was inside their house and the neighborhood was quiet. Trees were swishing with the wind and bushes were swinging. There were a few cars here and there, but it really looked like the streets were empty.

 

Zitao saw ahead that the girl took a sudden turn into the street, with an oncoming car driving down the road. “NO!” A normal person would have had no time to act.

 

But Zitao had time on his hands.

 

The rain was frozen midair. His dog was stopped in the walking position, tongue dangling out of its mouth, unmoving almost like those fake animal statues that could be found in a museum. The trees and the bushes were still, the wind no longer sweeping across everything in its path. Zitao let go of the dog’s leash and dropped his umbrella onto the ground. He walked over to where the girl crossed the street.

 

The driver in the car had a look of panic stricken all over his face. If time had not stopped, the girl surely would have been sent flying across the street. Zitao walked onto the street and headed towards the girl.

 

With the impending death that was awaiting her, she had a calm look on her face. There were traces of fear on her features, but they were long gone with acceptance. Zitao didn’t accept it and took her wrist, dragging her across time.

 

Whatever Zitao did to mess with time, it was sent drifting. The girl was floating along as he walked to the other side of the street. Everything was still, and if it was moving, it was slow, besides the pace Tao was walking. Setting her down on the sidewalk in front of the house took quite a while, but after he did so he patted her on the head and gave her a smile before walking back to where his dog was.

 

Little bastard still had his tongue sticking out of his mouth. Zitao picked up the umbrella and the leash, assuming the same position he was in that was ten minutes ago to him, but no time at all to the world.

 

The rain pattered against his umbrella and his dog walked again, dragging Tao along. The trees and the bushes were moving with the wind, and the car jerked forward.

 

Only the girl did not move.

 

She stood still for a moment, wondering if she had just envisioned her oncoming death. She ran inside the house, Tao had set her in front of, as said man continued walking as if nothing happened.


	4. Flight

Wu Yifan was tired of all his deskwork. Papers were piling and piling and piling, faster than he was getting rid of them. He was just tired.

 

He groaned and got up from his seat, leaving his office to get a whiff of air other than the one in the space he had been breathing in for the past 4 hours. Passing by his co-workers' cubicles, he gave them hello’s and handshakes as he made his way out of the room. 

 

The hallway had a vending machine, and Yifan was in the mood to drink something other than water. "Hmm... black soda drink… Cola…” He pressed the buttons on the machine and picked the can up when it fell to the bottom. Stalking back to his office, he opened the can with a little pop! and a hissss and took a drink. 

 

When he goes back to his personal workplace, the first thing he sees is the window. Out the window is the building across the street, which he could see the top of. Yifan's building has 73 floors, his office being on the 70th, while the building across the street only has about 50. He can easily sight the rooftop of the opposite building. 

 

Yifan was about to pull out his chair to sit on when he saw someone standing on the edge of the building. They were standing way too close to the edge of the building... 

 

That was when he walked all the way up to the window to take a closer look. It was a girl and she was not looking over the edge like people normally would do... She was standing on the edge. Yifan looked at the base of the building where he saw no one noticing the girl. There were no firefighters waiting with a trampoline, there wasn’t even a fire set on the building. There was clearly no physical reason for the girl to jump.

 

But she was going to jump anyway.

 

Yifan set his coke down quickly and sprinted out the office into the hallway. He spotted the door that led to the stairs. Only 3 floors, just 3 floors.

 

Yifan strided up the stairs in huge, quick steps and busted through the door that led to the rooftop. He ran to the edge of his building and to his relief the girl was still on top of the building. Really, still no one saw her from the bottom of the building. She had been standing still the entire time. She was still in the same position Yifan had seen her in from his office. 

 

Then she moved her leg forward so it was dangling over the side; that was when Yifan acted. He backed a few feet away and starting running… running… until he dived off the building. He was falling fast and then he was flying. He had no wings but he could feel the air move past him as he shot up towards where the girl was. She too had jumped off the building and was now falling down with her eyes closed. Yifan hurtled himself towards the girl and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight against his chest. For a few seconds, they were both free falling, without a care or worry in the world, and the only thing that could let them down was gravity. Then, he slowed the speed of their fall as they reached the ground and slowly set her down. 

 

She was too shocked to move, but when she looked up to see who had rescued her, Yifan was already gone.

 

Yifan flew all the way back to the top of his building. No one probably saw him and if they did, they will either lose him in the sea of about 1,000 workers in the building or they will think they have been daydreaming and in need of another sip of coffee. 

 

Yifan casually walked down the three flights of stairs and entered the office as if he had not just raced out of it like a madman a few minutes ago. Tie was askew, and hair was blown out of proportion. Some of his coworkers gave him weird, uncomfortable looks at the sight of their boss looking a little wind-blown and disheveled. 

 

When Yifan entered his office room, he went straight to the window and saw the girl still sitting on the ground, but she was crying.


	5. Light

Byun Baekhyun had lived on the seaside for his whole life. The sound of waves crashing down on the shore near his house had a calming effect, but the seagulls in the morning were a little bit annoying. The sight of the waves billowing across the waters were beautiful, but seeing people littering it with cans and garbage were disheartening. It was always the waves Baekhyun found peace in.

 

It was also the waves that brought Baekhyun trouble. As much as he loved the waves, he also despised them for being the reason for the destruction of lost boats. 

 

Baekhyun’s house was near a white lighthouse that shone its light every night for sailors to find their way home or foreigners who need to find land as a resting stop. 

 

He remembers the time his father brought him into the lighthouse, all the way to the top floor where he saw the light rotating around in the optic section. It was a good memory because Baekhyun was scared of the dark, and when the lights went off in his room that night, his father had decided to bring him to the brightest place he could think of.

 

Now, Baekhyun's father is long gone and Baekhyun is left to care for his sick mother, who is the reason they had lived near the waters: for the fresh air. His father had left for sea with a crew and they have yet to come back. It had been thirteen years since his dad left on his ship Baekseong and Baekhyun had already given up, highly doubting his father will come home. 

 

When his father was still home, he would bring Baekhyun to the lighthouse every time the electricity wasn't working or they had a blackout. The first time it had happened without his father there, Baekhyun was lying down on his bed, underneath a blanket. Suddenly the lights went out and Baekhyun couldn’t breathe; this usually happened but the feeling would disappear when his dad came into the room. 

 

Baekhyun thought the darkness was going to pierce into him and it was becoming blinding. Suddenly, he saw a glow and thought the lights had come back on. The sudden light was brighter than the usual shade the lamp in the corner of his room gave off: this one was too bright. 

 

Baekhyun realized the light was with him under the blanket; it was emitting from his hands. Initially, Baekhyun thought he fainted during the dark and he was dreaming. Then he got out of the blanket and the light lit up his whole room. He stood up from his bed, no longer afraid of the dark, since it was no longer present. 

 

He never had to leave his light on at night ever again.

 

Baekhyun was playing with a ball of light in his hands, having nothing else to do. The night was a dark one, it was darker than usual... When Baekhyun went to check the outside from his window, it was dark. Maybe I'm checking at the wrong time, the light will swing by in a few seconds. 

 

So he waited.

 

And it didn't.

 

It bothered him a lot. Ever since he had lived here, the lighthouse had never EVER gone out. It always shone its light at 7 PM sharp. It got to the point where Baekhyun had to go out of his house to really check, because he couldn’t trust his judgement from his bedroom. 

 

It was correct though. The sky was dark, the only light shining came from the reflection of the full moon, making the unilluminated lighthouse look blue against the inky star-blotted sky.

 

Baekhyun was going to ignore it for tonight and hope someone would come by and fix it tomorrow, until he saw a ship far out in the waters. 

 

Was it lost?

 

Is it looking for a resting stop? 

 

Can it make it through the rocky cliffs in the water?

 

It would be all Baekhyun’s fault if this ship ended up on the news tomorrow with maybe seven men drowning and supplies strewn across the ocean surface. It was a full moon tonight and the waters were more restless than usual.

 

Baekhyun ran towards the lighthouse and saw the spiral staircase. Memories flooded through his head as he remembered his father carrying him on his shoulders. There were more than two hundred steps leading up to the optic section of the lighthouse and little Baekhyun started complaining halfway up the stairs. 

 

When Baekhyun reached the room, the door easily opened. The room was really dark with only the moonlight shining in through the storm panes. He looked through the window to see if the ship was still there; and it was. 

 

Baekhyun concentrated and tried with all his might to concentrate putting energy into his hands. Luminosity emitted out, but it was only a string of light, not enough for the boat to see. Baekhyun thought really hard about happy thoughts: he thought about when his dad and he climbed up the lighthouse together, the period of time when his mother was becoming healthier, when he first found out he could produce light…

 

Light blasted out of his hands and the beam looked like it was actually coming from the huge lighthouse itself and not from a small young man’s hands. 

 

It took a few moments, and it made Baekhyun really unsure whether he should be doing this or not, but the boat started turning towards the light. It was starting to make its way towards the land. 

 

It took about 20 minutes, but the ship finally reached the shore. Baekhyun discontinued the light from his hands when he felt it was safe to stop shining his light for the ship. He made his way out of the room and took his time going down the stairs. 

 

He exited the lighthouse and felt the sand sift through his feet. He was planning to just walk past the boat, acting as if he did nothing for the sailors, no big deal. He was going to keep on walking straight to his house.

 

That was until he saw the name Baekseong engraved on the side of the ship.


	6. Water

Kim Joonmyun was sitting in front of his TV flipping through the the channels. It was a nice spring day, but he just couldn't bring himself to take a short walk outside. It would require changing clothes, saying hello to neighbors passing by, and getting up from the couch. He just didn't have the will to get up today. 

 

Joonmyun was getting thirsty so he reached over to the coffee table to pick up his cup. It was empty.

 

That's fine, I could get an effortless refill. Water formed between Joonmyun’s hands and he let it flow into his cup. (Don’t worry the water is pure and clean. When Joonmyun first realized his body was producing more water than it should have been, he also thought the water would be salty.)

 

The first time Joonmyun had discovered his power, he thought he was just sweating like crazy. He was exercising in his house, with the laptop connected to his TV and he was 15 minutes into the workout when his head starting dripping. He really thought it was sweat, but then it started cascading like a waterfall onto his floor - it felt like he was taking a shower, except the water wasn’t coming from a shower head nozzle but from the air around his head. Joonmyun had to stop doing his power jumps because the water was going into his eyes, blurring his vision, like when you go into a pool without goggles. He went straight to the bathroom to shower, but he realized the water didn’t make him feel sticky and gross like sweat usually would. 

 

Next time it happened, he became really convinced that the water he was producing out of thin air was actually water and not sweat, one of the reasons being it wasn’t even coming from his pores, even more his body. He was petting his cat and brushing its fur like every other Sunday. All of a sudden, water shoots out near the palm of his hand and blasts the cat off the couch and across the room until it was splayed against the opposite wall. 

 

The cat was fine, probably a little resentful towards its owner and harboring bad feelings about Sunday grooming, but it was Joonmyun who almost went crazy and set off a flood in his house. It wasn’t that bad though, and he only had to mop his whole house the whole day.

 

Joonmyun also figured out he could control water when he was washing dishes. Instead of going the normal down direction into the sink, the water starting flowing straight towards him. With a wave of his arm, the water would follow. 

 

He continued flipping through the channels until he reached the news channel. On the screen were malnourished children sitting on the ground and dirt. The third world land was experiencing a famine and drought. The news caster further informed that many people were dying and trying to find sources of food and water. 

 

Water. 

 

They need water.

 

Joonmyun had plenty of that; he had an unlimited supply!! He continued staring at the screen, really debating if he should get up from the couch to help. 

 

"Aish!! Whatever," he said getting up from the couch to retrieve his cell phone from his bedroom. 

 

"Hello? I would like to know where I could donate gallons of water to help with the famine and drought?"


	7. Telekinesis

Lu Han kept walking on, into the crowd of people moving across the sidewalks, pretending like he couldn’t hear anything. The city was a busy place and Lu Han just couldn’t grab the opportunity to move to a more quiet and peaceful place. 

 

He was just coming out from a doctor’s appointment, hands in pocket; he didn’t push the door open with his hands, but rather in a more quite effortless way. All he had to do was will the door to swing open and it would do just that. 

 

It didn’t come that easy however. It started off as voices, very subtle… one day he thought his mom was calling him out of his room, another he thought thought he was going crazy, imagining it all. He didn’t want to seek out help, afraid people would judge him and think of sending him to a mental facility. It finally got out of hand when things started flying, circling around him overhead. Thankfully, Lu Han had learned how to control his telekinesis and telepathy over the years. 

 

These powers were not "really cool" or "beneficial"; really, they were more of a curse. Lu Han slowly began to see people's true colors, being able to hear their true thoughts underneath their fake personality. He began to see what people really thought about him and what they thought about each other. By college, Lu Han almost went crazy and attempted to commit suicide, but the thought of days when he could spend time alone, in quiet where he could hear no one kept him going. 

 

‘Hmm, which street am I on now. I’m so proud of myself for riding the subway by myself today!!” 

 

“Why do I hang out with this guy… he’s a complete douchebag.” 

 

“I’m already late for work, but I really want to get a sandwich.” 

 

Lu Han pulled his headphones over his ears in false attempt to block out the unwanted thoughts invading his head. In truth, the headphones were a shield saying, “Back away, I really don’t want to talk to you.” He had no friends because of this image and mentality, but deep down inside, even though he didn’t want to admit, it was because he didn’t want to get too close to anyone who could cause him harm after discovering his power. There was no music playing. 

 

Music and constant talking do not mix well together. 

 

“How much would that woman have in her bag? Should I grab it and run or quietly pickpocket her? Pickpocket would be better, I’d get away more easily.”

 

Lu Han saw in the corner of his eye who the sickening thoughts belonged to. The old middle-aged guy was bald and nasty looking, wearing black clothes and gloves - he looked like this was not the first time he had stolen things from people. Indeed, he was eyeing a woman who had a shiny bright pink bag, and she didn’t look like she would carry around just ten dollars. It was people like these who made him wish he could not hear their thoughts.

 

Lu Han saw the man starting to approach the woman from behind. He sighed and decided this would be the last time he would get involved in something he could help - he used his telekinetic abilities to drag the man’s shoes back while he was walking, causing him to trip. 

 

The man struggled to get up with Lu Han holding him down by nonphysical means. As the young man saw the oblivious woman turn the corner and walk into some place, Lu Han decided it was okay to finally let the man go. 

 

“What the fuck was that, where did the woman go? Dammit!” Lu Han smirked and continued on walking, unintentionally, but routinely, drinking in the passerby’s thoughts. 

 

It took some bus stops and a couple of subway rides, but Luhan finally reached his apartment condo, where he was free to do whatever he wanted without people seeing. High up in the building, nothing but birds could see objects floating around in the living room, where the window was wide open. 

 

He made his way into the kitchen and heated up something to eat in the microwave. He sat down in the four person table, looking very alone, although he did not feel lonely. It was quiet.

 

A glass of water slid across the table into Lu Han’s hand, so he could drink after taking a few bites of his lunch. He thought about what he did this afternoon to the pickpocketer - was it really his right to intervene? Should he have just let the guy take the woman’s money and someone else could have gotten involved, and possibly hurt? 

 

Just this one last time.


	8. Frost

Kim Minseok had locked himself in his room, for the past 13 years, afraid of hurting his family members again. 

 

One night, he was playing with his little sister and he had conjured snow and ice in their living room while their parents were asleep. Minseok made a snowman, which made his sister laugh gleefully at their new friend, and then they proceeded to go snow surfing, him using ice to solidify the snow mounds she would hop on. His sister was suddenly going too fast and, accidentally, he struck her in the head with his ice power, and she fell unconscious. He frantically called for help, and their parents woke up and brought her to the hospital, where the doctors said Minseok was lucky he had not struck her in the heart. Afraid of further harm, his parents limited access to their mansion and kept him in his room until he could control his powers. 

 

Minseok’s sister loved the winter; she loved playing in the snow and building snowmen with her brother. After the accident, she forgot that he had powers, but she didn’t fail to remember all the fun they had and how close they were. 

 

She also didn’t fail to notice how he was pushing her away. 

 

5 years old. “Umin-oppa!! Do you want to build a snowman?” she asked, knocking on his door. “Come on, let’s go on play!!” No response. She turned her back on the door, but realized she shouldn’t give up. “I never see you anymore, so come out the door, it’s like you’ve gone away… We used to be best buddies, but now we’re not… I kinda wish you would tell me why… Come on, let’s build a snowman? It doesn’t even have to be a snowman.”

 

“Go away.”

 

“Okay, bye..” 

 

Minseok looked outside his window to see the snow accumulating on the ground, touching the pane of glass with the desire to play in the snow with his sister, but frosty rime formed causing the scared boy to back away. He really couldn’t control it.

 

“Conceal it, don’t feel it. Don’t let it show.” He and his father chanted together, as he put gloves on his hands. 

 

9 years old. Knock, knock! “Oppa, do you want to build a snowman? Let’s even ride our bikes down the halls! I have no one to talk to, I’m talking to the pictures on the walls…” The girl gave up again when no response came and walked away only to stare at the clock and the hours tick by and by.

 

Ice was forming around the corners of Minseok’s room. “Honey, try to calm down.” 

 

The ice was forming faster. “I’m scared, it’s getting stronger!! I don’t know how to stop it!!” 

 

“Getting upset will only make it worse,” his dad said in a soothing tone, outstretching his hand to touch his son’s shoulder in an effort to calm him down. 

 

“No! Don’t touch me! I don’t want to hurt you…” Minseok backed away quickly. 

 

15 years old. Minseok’s sister gave up trying to lure her brother out of his room. She tried to skip past his room, only to look back at the closed door longingly, wishing her brother would still come out. She ran to her mom and dad to hug them goodbye, for they were going on a car trip to visit family members in another city. “See you in two weeks!” 

 

When she was back in her room, Minseok came out to say goodbye to his parents, although he was really reluctant for their leave. “Do you have to go?”

 

His father gave him a smile and reassured him, “You’ll be fine.” 

 

Ring~ “I GOT THE TELEPHONE!!” 

 

Minseok could hear his sister crying through the ice and the closed door, shutting himself in again. He heard his parents had passed away in a car crash and he couldn’t bring himself to attend their funeral. He was more scared than ever - with his emotions not intact, he could hurt anyone with his powers any moment he stepped outside his door. His room was dark and cold, everything covered in ice, snow and frost drifting in the air.

 

The house was darker than usual; nothing had been happy for years. A weak knock. “Minseok, please… I know you’re in there… People are asking where you've been and they’re telling me to have courage, and I'm trying to… I'm right out here for you, can’t you just let me in? Now we only have each other; it's just you and me, but what are we gonna do?” She pleaded, sliding her back down the door into a slump.

 

“Do you want to build a snowman?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story idea is not mine at all; it belongs to Disney Movie Frozen. Watch the movie!! LOL it's almost exactly the same thing except more modernized ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	9. Teleportation

Kim Jongin didn’t want to hear it anymore. The screaming and the shouting, reverberating throughout the whole house, down the hallways and into his room. No matter how many blankets he hid under, countless pillows stacked on his head and how many headphones he had gone through, it never seemed to end. He had no escape and he just wanted to get away. 

 

“HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO PAY THE FUCKING BILL AGAIN, DO YOU WANT US TO GET FUCKING KICKED OUT?” 

 

He had just come back from practice, but he comes home to the same thing all the time: there is no direct welcome home, but instead, he is greeted by fighting between his parents. He had just settled down in his room, sitting down at his desk trying to do homework. Snapback on his head, gray sweats, white t-shirt, sneakers still on; he tried not to give a care in the world. How can he concentrate?

 

“SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!!! HOW CAN I PAY WHEN YOU ARE BLOWING IT ALL UP ON ALL OF YOUR LIQUOR AND CARD PLAYING LATE AT NIGHT? DO YOU THINK I DON’T FUCKING SEE YOU SNEAK OUT THAT DOOR?”

 

But he still cared. They argue about the same, damn things over and over again every night. Jongin has not remembered a quiet moment since their hardships began. Jongin can’t remember the world where money didn’t matter so much. He couldn’t remember a night where he could sleep soundlessly and peacefully. He absolutely could not remember the last time love and affection was shown to anyone around the house. 

 

"AND AT THAT DINNER PARTY!! I SAW YOU STARING AT THAT MARRIED WOMAN, DO YOU THINK I’M BLIND AND CLUELESS?”

 

Stop. You’re arguing about pointless things.

 

“WHO FUCKING CARES, I CAN’T DO ANYTHING WITH HER WITH YOUR BAT EYES ANYWAY. I’M FUCKNG TRAPPED HERE WITH YOU AND ALL THESE PROBLEMS!! WHY CAN’T YOU GET A JOB OR SOMETHING, I’M DOING ALL THE WORK!! YOU SIT HERE ON YOUR LAZY ASS BUT YOU’RE NOT OK WITH ME GETTING LOOSE FROM ALL THE WORK I DO!!”

 

I’m trapped here and it’s suffocating. 

 

“GET OUT THEN!! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL HERE?! WHY DON’T YOU JUST RUN AWAY! I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU’RE STILL HERE. LEAVE AND TAKE THE DEBT WITH YOU BECAUSE ALL OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” 

 

Don’t leave. If you’re leaving, I should be able to leave, too.

 

Glass shatters. Silence.

 

But it’s not quiet. Everything still speaks. Hatred lingers in the air and Jongin can feel it; it’s what never leaves the house and it’s what he can’t get away from. The anger that builds up every time they yell at each other echoes throughout the rooms and reaches him, seeping into his mind and emotion. It’s never quiet. 

 

He can’t take it anymore. 

 

He bursts out the door and angrily storms through the hallway and into the kitchen where they were standing in front of each other. Across the wall from his father were broken pieces of a porcelain plate he seemed to have thrown out of anger and frustration. 

 

“Will you two ever stop fighting?” Jongin yells, breaking the tense soundlessness between his parents. They turned their heads with an expression of shock, because Jongin had never come out of his room to stop their fighting. Not once have they thought about him during their arguments; it’s like they had forgotten they had a son they had raised and had forgotten that he mattered. 

 

“Every night, it’s the same. You guys don’t even notice my grades are dropping and how I’m not eating dinner, because you guys are too busy yelling your heads off at each other!!”

 

Let it all out now. This may be the first and last time you can.

 

“You’re both in the wrong here, stop blaming it on each other!” 

 

“Don’t talk to me like that, boy. You better be quiet. I’m your father,” his father snarled, pointing a crooked finger at Jongin’s face. His mother had a look of disbelief on her face; she believed Jongin was right and how ridiculous it was that the father still could not admit his wrongs.

 

“Father?” Jongin scoffed. “A father makes sure his son is on the right track, and encourages him to do his best while patting his back, not ignores him completely and yells at his mother all the time. A proper dad would give me shit for my failing grades, but still make sure i eat!! A proper dad doesn’t go out and drink, wasting all the money his son needs to go to college!” 

 

“YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT, I SAID SHUT UP!!” His father bellowed, raising a fist towards Jongin. 

 

It all happened fast. Jongin could hear his mom’s distant screaming, while a bunched up and clenched hand was coming down to strike his face. Jongin tried to cover his face with his arms, but he didn’t feel anything crash down on his face. There was no bruising touch and there was no more yelling. 

 

But he had felt a rush. 

 

Jongin slowly lowered his arms from his face to find himself somewhere other than his kitchen. There was black smoke surrounding him, or was that just shadows? After it cleared, he saw he was now in a dark place, but not much darker, considering his parents are desperately trying to make ends meet to pay the electricity bill. The cool air blowing on his face told him he was no longer indoors. He could feel he was not standing on a tile floor, but earthy grassy ground.

 

He was not here the last second; surely he was dreaming? How could one be in one place, and then another the next moment? He was sure he had made up his mind a few minutes ago to confront his parents, so was this reality? 

 

Now he wasn’t sure if he was even in the same city. This place was unfamiliar, but it looked like an open park. There was a field on one side and a lake on the other; in between was a walkway with benches on the side. No one was in sight, probably because it was already late. It was dark, but it was also completely silent. 

But despite everything, he was glad he was able to find a way out. He thinks he can stay and sleep here for a night. On the ground? On one of the benches? It didn’t matter because it could be his first peaceful night in a long time.


	10. Earth

Do Kyungsoo tried to hide it all. Just like how there were many secrets hidden in the ground that stay down there dwelling, he thought he could be as stable and strong as the earth and hide his secrets too. 

 

Kyungsoo may have been narrow-shouldered (and looked as if the heaviest thing he could lift up was a plush doll that the coal miners in his village imagined he slept with every night), but this was completely misleading. No one living today knew how strong Hercules was, but Kyungsoo’s strength could come pretty close to the legends and myths of the demigod’s. Kyungsoo also had the ability to move the earth with solid and grounded stances. The only person who knew of his power was his mother; his father was no longer around, passing away from a fatal accident in the coal mines one fateful day. The entrance to the coal mine could be seen from the center of the village; the memory of his father’s accident still haunts him to this day when he walks to the middle of town.

 

He lived in a village that was very nature-oriented and terra-centric; the people he lived with loved the earth and worshipped it, believing it was their reason for being and that nothing could control it. They were not very industrialized and could probably be considered a second-worldly village; the women stayed home or gathered food, while the men worked all day in the coal mines, returning home full of soot, an ashy and dirty black from head to toe. Although the country they lived in is very advanced, these people chose to live on the mountains, isolated and hidden from other cities. 

 

Fortunately, Kyungsoo was born in this peaceful settlement; if he was born in a huge city, the damage of his powers — controlling the earth — would have been greater if he had set off an earthquake. It's not that these people and the village didn’t matter, it's just less significant than an important trade city or capital or anything like that. Thankfully, Kyungsoo had never lost control of his powers and kept it a secret from the village people, whom he really loved and cared about. 

 

However, there was one day where a little boy caught Kyungsoo playing around with a pebble in midair. The child saw him swinging the little rock from side to side,without physically touching it and it was only until the boy ran back to his mom squealing out that Kyungsoo realized he had been caught. He stopped what he was doing and proceeded to sit on his rock, pretending to act innocent and act like nothing happened for when the boy’s mom returned. The child ended up being scolded, being called crazy and a little too imaginative for his own good. While they were walking away, Kyungsoo let out a secretive sigh of relief. Kyungsoo did not get mad at the kid.

 

Magma swirls under the earth's crust, convection currents slowly making its way around circulating around in thick streams. Kyungsoo's heart can be described as overflowing with warmth, full of kindness and radiance, just like the core and center of the earth. Kyungsoo had a heart of gold. Many children loved being around him, and although he couldn’t work with them yet, the coal miners were friendly with him. He loved them all back, and his village was just one big amiable family. 

 

But what he really didn’t know didn't hurt him, so all of that changed one day. 

 

Kyungsoo was sitting on his rock, eyes close in meditation, focusing on the sturdy earth while feeling the wind on his face, when people not from the village — they appeared to be hikers — came into view and asked the now curious people to see their leader. Kyungsoo got up from the rock to see what was going on and joined the crowd of hushed and confused whispers as the people of the village, too, were wondering what was going on. They were isolated — they haven’t had visitors come in a long time. They were situated on the dangerous side of the mountain; all hikers and rock climbers scaled the other side.

 

The Chief, along with his two guards, came out of his hut moments later after a man went inside to fetch him, and he gave a brief welcome to the men before asking them to come inside. The two guards stayed outside, keeping watch and making sure no outsiders were listening in on them. The people of the village didn’t stick around to see the men come out, but Kyungsoo waited, curiosity taking over him — besides he had nothing else to do since he didn’t work in the mines yet. 

 

Kyungsoo meditated for another hour before the hikers and the Chief came out together, smiling and shaking hands. Even though the rest of the village payed no more attention, Kyungsoo still walked up close enough so he could hear what they were saying. 

 

"I'm really glad you agreed to relocate your village and its people, this is a huge deal," one of the hikers said. Relocate? Were these men really hikers or are they brokers? 

 

"We will give you one week to move everyone out; we will send some people to help with the transportation," the other spoke up. What exactly were they talking about? Were we getting kicked out of our own home?

 

"What do you mean "move everyone out"?" Kyungsoo asked, walking up to the grown elders. The Chief and the other two men turned to look down at the short young man, stealing uneasy glances at each other. “What do you mean “relocation”?” he asked again, growing impatient for an answer. 

 

"Kyungsoo, these matters don't concern you. Please go back to meditating. Everyone will learn later," the Chief said with authority. 

 

“Why not now?” Kyungsoo continued to demand for answers. "You're just going to let these men take us away from our home?" The Chief ignored the questions and waved towards his guards to drag Kyungsoo away. The two huge men grabbed on either side of Kyungsoo, locking a killer grip on his arms. "Stop, let me go! he shouted at the men, who just held on tighter. They began to drag him away from the Chief, the hikers watching with wide eyes. Kyungsoo struggled to get out of their grasp, thrashing about.

 

"I SAID LET ME GO!!!" Where Kyungsoo stomped on the ground, a deep crack formed in the earth; the more it creeped forward towards the leader of the village and the foreign visitors, the deeper the crevice got. The guards who were holding onto the boy yelled out in surprise and let go of him, backing away to ensure they would not fall to their death. Screams of alarm and surprised shouting from onlooking villagers could be heard over the loud cracking of the earth splitting apart.

 

"Wow, fascinating!" Kyungsoo heard one of the hikers breathe out. “How did he do that?”

 

"Change of plans, when you move everyone out, we take the boy and we show the world what he is capable of doing!!" the other exclaimed to the Chief. Showcase him to the world? They make it sound like he was an animal or a freak. A scientific discovery. Something to display.

 

What has he done? All his years and years of managing to keep away from the world has come to an abrupt halt, leaving him shocked and clueless of what to do next. He was scared; what is going to happen now? He looked around, only to see people looking at him with horrified expressions; they were looking at him as if he was a monster. 

 

After a few moments of stiff silence, the Chief spoke up to him saying, “Do Kyungsoo, calm down, we’re not going to hurt you. We’ll get you help, and you can leave the village to see experts or something…” Their leader was running out of words — even the wisest did not know what to make of this situation. Was he scared of the boy too?

 

Suddenly, the village’s armed defense warriors encircled Kyungsoo, arrows raised and pointed at him. Kyungsoo almost laughed at the situation; he was just a boy who lived in the village his whole life, but now that he just cracked open the earth, they were merely seconds away from killing him. The men don’t come to the Chief’s aid unless he calls them; he had probably discreetly motioned for them without Kyungsoo seeing him. Ignoring the “No, don’t shoot!!” from the hikers, the men still kept their weapons raised, aiming at the boy. 

 

“Fire at him!!” One of the villagers cried out. In the corner of his eye, an arrow was released from a bow and was now coming towards him. A pillar of dirt and earth immediately shot up to stop the arrow, protecting Kyungsoo’s back. They were going to kill him? This was how they felt when one of their kind was no longer the same person they had known? They probably felt this way because the one thing they had worshipped and centered their lives on — the earth — could now be easily manipulated by this one boy; they had thought their world was a stable rock. Kyungsoo began to feel more angry than lost, and he shook with rage. 

 

As he trembled, vibrations could be felt and the people soon realized what was happening and started becoming hysterical when they found out it came from the rocks that were now tumbling down the mountain. It all came to a stop when they fell and landed on one certain place: the entrance to the coal mine. Shouts of pure panic from all the coal miners rang out, muffled from the blocked entrance as the men tried to call for help to get out. It was almost impossible — the rocks were too big. 

 

“Do Kyungsoo! What are you doing?” He whirled around to find his mother standing apart from the crowd, trying to push past the armed arrow shooters. “Let them out, don’t you remember what happened to your father? How he passed away? What would he say to you doing this?” 

 

Kyungsoo took a good look at his mom’s face: fear. She was afraid of him, too. The one person that he thought he could count on, the one person who knew he was like this. He was getting sick of it. It was the same expression on everyone’s face. 

 

He could not forgive them. They were not the people he had lived with his whole life; the people of the village he loved were welcoming and warm-hearted. They would have accepted him for who he was. Was it because they were scared of his strength? Was it because he had controlled the earth, when they believed the earth was their reason for their existence? He had made the final decision that he could not forget the looks on their faces. Their faces had spoken every single aspect of what was running through all their heads; they would never look at him the same ever again. 

 

Kyungsoo ran for it. He had to get away from the place he once called home. Shouts to try to prevent him from escaping resonated around the center of the village, but that all became distant when Kyungsoo elevated the ground around the settlement to make a huge wall; they could not see or harm him anymore. To be honest, relief flooded through him when all he could see was the earth and hostile faces were no longer looking at him.

 

Kyungsoo ventured up the mountain for a few hours until he could no longer walk. He did not wait until he found a hollow in the mountain. He sat down in a cross-legged position and willed the earth to encase him in an egg-like shell of ground, dirt, and rocks. He was completely closed off from the world and probably no one would find him from here. He could tear out of his protective covering anytime he wanted; he absolutely had the strength to do so, but he did not have the desire or aspiration to. He did not want to walk down to the village and face the damage he had caused; his people would treat him like an alien, a stranger, a savage.

 

He continued to sit in that position for a few hours. He felt hungry and exhausted, but the faces his village had given him still could not get out of his head. It had driven him to insanity and isolation; he had never experience such negative emotions and hatred before. He intended to never come out of this rock casing, no matter how damp and suffocating it was beginning to feel. He was going to die in a few days if he continued like this, but he didn’t care; his heart of gold had turned into a heart of stone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so idk if you guys understood because i really could not write this chapter, i could not find the right words for everything but:
> 
> \- the hiker men are like entrepreneurs or something, they want the Chief and his people to move out of the mountain because they discovered there is gold in the mines — they want the gold to themselves and tricked the Chief into selling his land, telling him it'll be beneficial for him and his people (not mentioned in the story) these people found gold on the safe side of the mountain and they want more
> 
> \- Kyungsoo is kind of committing suicide I guess, he doesn't want to come out of his ground encasement ever again; he destroyed his village; he's never received hatred from anyone before; and he's just disappointed with the people who he loved and trusted for years.
> 
> \- they are not an advanced village; there are not many people as the population in a city would have and they do not have techology: no cars, no guns, no cellphones, no machines, etc
> 
> i will probably edit this chapter later in life, oh well


	11. Wind

Oh Sehun dragged a chair 168 miles through the desert for the past three days. His hunger, thirst, and fatigue did not surface above the hatred and emotional weariness he had felt for the last 5 years; he had set his mind to do this and he will succeed in doing it. 

 

Everything was the same color; the sky was not blue, the ground was not a deep brown, the plants were not a green. From not having any nourishment or sleep, was he dying already? No, this was not the way he intended, he had to stay strong. He had to keep going to meet the end. 

 

Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. Wasn’t Sehun’s life like that? He had run away from the hardships life had hurtled 940 mph at him to release the weight off his shoulder and his heart. It was the coward’s way, but at this point, he no longer cared and no one else was there for him to even bother what he would do with himself. He was ready to finish it all.

 

When he really felt like he reached a good spot, he set the wooden chair down and sat on it to wait. He waited and waited, but he was waiting for nothing. Nothing would come and no one would help him. Nothing and no one would come tell him to stop doing what he was planning to carry out. Nothing and no one was there to care. 

 

This would be the first time he would use his powers, excluding the time he found out about it. He knew he had some control over his power, but not enough and that is the reason why he chose it is the way he is most comfortable with. Instead of his power being beneficial for others, he decided he would use it for his own destruction.

 

Before all this, he often wondered,   
‘Were there people out there in the world just like me? Having these weird powers?  
“Did they let other people know they weren’t normal? Did people judge them?  
“Did they alienate them and make them feel they didn’t belong in their place?" 

 

He was never happy with himself. What would happen if other people discovered he had the power of wind? Wouldn’t they laugh at him, scorn him? Wouldn’t they think he was a freak and have him contained in a jail or experimental center? He already hated himself without this power adding onto his problems. 

 

A black and orange monarch butterfly was fluttering its wings towards Sehun, who was now outstretching his arm to allow the winged creature to perch on his hand. This was the closest he’s ever seen a butterfly. He could see its antennae, the pattern on its wings, and he could feel it on his hand; he thought it was impossible to touch a butterfly like it was seeing the wings of an angel - it would fly away before you could even go near it.

 

Would he be able to see another butterfly up this close again? Would he ever see the white wings of an angel? Surely, what he is doing right now is not right. Taking away one’s life would not earn him a place in heaven.

 

It was too late to back out. The insect could feel it coming from miles away. Unlike Sehun, it probably wanted to live; it wanted to get away before it could be swallowed whole. The butterfly knew what was coming and it flew away. What was it doing in the desert in the first place? Did it come to tell him this was not the right choice? No, it was an insect, it wouldn’t know anything about the weight of human emotions and struggles of the mind. 

 

Sehun waited for a long time, but soon he could hear it and feel it coming. Sand had picked up along with the wind, and a vortex of the sediment had encased the boy in it, smothering and stifling him. It was too late to think about the happy things in life… The wind was blowing in with negative thoughts and suffocating Sehun with bad memories. Now, everything really was the same color. He couldn’t breathe, but he couldn’t stop the chaos anymore; it was all blown out of proportion. He could only control the wind, not the storm. 

 

But it’s ok. 

 

Because he had set his mind to do this and he will succeed in doing it.


	12. Lightning

Kim Jongdae knew it all too well. The scorpion was a dangerous, potentially lethal creature, one not to be messed around with. The poisonous stinger of the scorpion was sharp, just like the strike of lightning; the difference is you have a higher death rate with the latter. 

 

Sitting on a log on the coast of the beach, he didn’t even bother to flinch or jump up when he noticed the terrestrial arachnid next to him; in fact, he took it to his enthusiasm to examine it a little closer, evident that he was not scared of it. It wasn’t going to hurt him, he was the bigger of the two. 

 

Looking up from from inspection of the poisonous critter, he saw the man he was impatiently waiting for coming towards him. He was wearing all black: a black coat, black dress pants, and shiny black shoes; it was similar to what Jongdae was wearing. They looked like men who were going to discuss business, but why on the beach? It looked like a rainstorm was going to ensue from the dark gray clouds hovering over the restless ocean. 

 

And, it was not business. Just as Jongdae saw the man, fury and rage blinded his sight, just as a strike of lightning over the waters had blinded the man for a second. 

 

“Nice day to come out, huh?” The man joked as he stopped within talking distance in front of Jongdae. 

 

“Don’t joke around. How can you still do that when you committed such a crime against me?” Jongdae snapped nastily. He was angry, he could feel heat all over his body, despite the cold blowing wind from the ocean. 

 

This only made the man smirk, an ugly and ghastly grin spreading across his face. “I can’t believe you actually came. I would say I’m sorry to your family, but I can’t because I’m really not.”

 

Malicious intent struck his mind, making him blind for just a moment. Don’t lose sight of what you came here for. Don’t become the monster this man is.

 

“Don’t talk like that!” Jongdae yelled. “You can’t because you killed them! You can’t apologize anymore! Sorry can’t cut it!” 

 

Jongdae was raised in a family where they taught values of respect and love and the importance of forgiveness, but that was all thrown away when this man demolished and destroyed them all. He did it in a brutal way, and no matter what Jongdae was taught, he wanted the man to die in the same unmerciful manner; there was not a hint or infinitesimal spark of forgiveness on Jongdae’s mind.

 

His soul cried out pain.

 

His heart howled hatred.

 

His mind screamed murder.

 

“It’s okay. I was going to make this short, so we don’t really need to have this sort of chit-chat. You can discuss your feelings with them when you see them after I kill you, too,” he casually said, pulling out a knife from his pocket. Jongdae knew it. Of course this was why the man called him out here; it was to get rid of him, too. 

 

Forget it. A monster should be devoured by another. 

 

With the man walking towards him, Jongdae bent down, one knee on the dry sand, and summoned electricity, visible currents curling around his arm. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

 

“Wait, sand is not a good conductor of electricity… How are you not getting shocked… How did you --” A white stunning flash crashed down behind Jongdae, blowing the wood off the log, the burnt pieces flying off. The man jumped up, stopping mid-sentence, almost shouting in fear. “N-now just w-wait a minute,” he stuttered, Jongdae now walking towards him, a hard-hearted and unreadable expression on his face. 

 

“Lightning never strikes twice in the same place,” Jongdae remarked, a cold and ruthless statement foreshadowing the man’s fate. 

 

The thunder could definitely be heard, sounding like it was coming right above the two of them. The man was now trembling and shaking, like the air when lightning burns through it; which shook faster? 

 

There was no warning. Another bolt crashed down, just in front of Jongdae, right where the man was standing. The man dropped to the ground after convulsing violently from the force of the lightning. When the smoke cleared and thunder was rumbling again, an entry wound could be seen on the back of the guy’s head and his shoes were ripped apart, the front of his shoes no longer intact. His clothes were shredded from the impact and singed from the explosive force of superheated air. It began to smell of burnt rubber, fabric, and flesh.

 

The guy could have been in a coma or he could have even died on the spot from cardiac arrest, or maybe the electric current entered his skull and cooked his brain cells, but as long as he wasn’t holding the knife anymore, Jongdae didn’t care. He wasn’t pointing it at him anymore. As long as he would never hold it again.

 

The scorpion traditionally represents death, destruction, rebirth and transformation. The scorpion is a formidable foe, small yet powerful. The stinger was rendered as a blade, meant either ‘to strike’ or ‘lightning’. The death of a man, the destruction of a killer, the rebirth into a new person, and the transformation of the summoner of lightning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> analysis credit: http://foreverasian.tumblr.com/post/20544652748/seulpeumi-exo-mama-teaser-analyses-chen-how


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